Old is Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose
by roisaber
Summary: Garnet, now Queen, visits her Uncle Cid on his sickbed. Is there anything that can make the old man himself again?


Queen Garnet quietly pushed open the door to Cid's inner sanctum. She was a middle aged woman, now, and by all accounts a fine queen. As for Cid… well, there was no denying it. Cid was on death's door and he could leave Gaia at any time. The sweet, sticky aroma of opium hit her as soon as she entered Cid's private quarters.

"Young lady!" Cid rasped, startling her. "What a pleasant surprise."

"I apologize, Uncle."

She didn't bother adding that she'd seen him the day before, in spite of the frantic rescheduling of cabinet meetings. Cid took another drag from his opium pipe, the last luxury, vice, and medicine he could tolerate at his age. He was a pale and bloated thing, propped up in bed with brightly colored pillows. Cid's eyes were milky and distant, but how much of that was from age, and how much was from the drug, Garnet didn't care to guess.

His room was disheveled, with books and half-built models strewn everywhere, but he'd steadfastly driven off every maid the castle butler sent to clean it. There was an organ in one corner, buried beneath a thick layer of dust. There was an end table cluttered with random tchochkies, and photographs of his deceased wife, Hilda, hung throughout the room. A fire crackled in the fireplace, one of few errands he allowed the maids to perform for him. The mahogany grandfather clock ticked out the days one second at a time.

"Never you mind, Garnet. Tell me, how are you and that young man getting along?"

The queen smiled in spite of herself. "That 'young man' and I are happily married. You came to our wedding, remember?"

Cid looked up at the ceiling with dreamy eyes.

"Strange, don't you think?" Cid finally replied, but not to the question she asked. "We spend our entire lives building alliances and inventing and being with our loved ones, and in the end, it all disappears like a summer fog…"

The thought made Garnet melancholy, but Cid seemed surprisingly cheerful. Perhaps it was the opium?

Out loud, she said, "Cid, do you want me to get you a doctor?"

"Bah! The devil take those quacks! None of their balms, potions, or ethers ever make a damn bit of difference. Plus, they always want to take away the one little pleasure an old man like me can possibly enjoy." Cid jabbed at her with his opium pipe, and then paused. "Pardon my language, dear, but you're a grown woman now so get over it!"

Garnet suppressed a smile. King Zidane, a former pirate, kidnapper, and carnie extraordinaire, was well known in the kingdom for his obscene slips of the tongue whenever he spoke extemporaneously. There was an entire quarterly gossip rag devoted to his exploits.

"Never mind, Uncle. We have a son, you know. He's two years old already. Just between you and me, I was so relieved when the doctor put him in my arms and I discovered he didn't have a tail!"

"A tail," Cid mused. "What will they think of next? Oh, what happened to that old crow Doctor Tot? Don't tell me he died before me!"

Garnet sighed and shook her head. "He died a few years ago, Uncle."

To her amazement, the old man cackled with delight.

"Is that so? Serves him right!" Cid started coughing, and Garnet waited patiently until his breath returned. "I always said I'd see him in Hell; I guess it's about time for me to keep my promise."

"Don't talk that way, Uncle!"

"What do you know, girlie? My wife is dead, all of my friends are dead; I only remember where I am half the time – as a matter of fact, just about the only thing I have left is you." Cid sighed. "I don't even get to see Hilde Garde VII since I'm cooped up in this bed."

"That can be amended, Uncle. I can have your bed and you with it carried out to the docks on - "

"Damn and blast it!" Cid violently swore, almost falling out of bed in his passionate rage. "I'm not so old as yet that I need to be carried around on the backs of the young."

The air was pregnant with a heavy pause. Garnet surreptitiously looked at her watch. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy her remaining time with Cid, but if she missed another cabinet meeting, she'd never hear the end of it from Secretary Hermione… Suddenly, Garnet noticed that Cid had an evil glint in his eye, and he looked more awake than he'd seemed in ages.

"What is it, Uncle?" she asked.

"I rather think – could it be? Yes! It's true! I just had an _idea_," the graybeard gloated. "Go get me a pen and paper, girlie, I have a motorized bed to design."

Queen Garnet chuckled to herself about being ordered around by one of her subjects, but obediently fetched writing instruments for her beloved uncle. In spite of his dramatics, somewhere inside he was still the same old Cid, and she'd bet a hundred thousand Gil that he'd be underfoot everywhere in the castle before the week was out.


End file.
